Kincaid’s Fish, Chop, & Steak House – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough and I have been talking about hitting up some happy hours in downtown St. Paul for a few weeks now. We finally found a night where we could capitalize on it. We were both busy until 9, which worked out well, since three of the places we wanted to go started their happy hours at 9pm. We settled on Kincaid’s since she had had good luck there in the past. I wasn’t sure if it was a fancy place or a casual place, so I brought along a nicer shirt in the car. When we arrived (and got rock star parking directly in front of the entrance), I realized I’d better clean it up and put on the nice shirt.

The inside is nice, but not stuffy. It’s classy, but there were people in jeans aside from me. We grabbed a seat in the bar area and scoured the menu. There were a couple of girly drink choices on the happy hour menu and all of the appetizers were half off from 9 to close. Cha-ching! D.Rough needed a Cranberry Mojito and I needed a Pomegranate Margarita. The drinks came out quickly and we sampled our choices while deciding on food.

The Pomegranate Margarita was quite good. Not a ton of pomegranate, and you could still taste the tequila. It was pretty good. I’m not sure if I’d make a pitcher of these at home or anything, but it was nice and light for the evening. The Cranberry Mojito was also good. It was a little strong on the mint side (which D.Rough likes), but aside from that, it was great. It was also served in a tall glass that made the thing look like a 64 oz BigGulp.

After MUCH deliberation, we decided on Teriyaki Tenderloin – flash-seared filet mignon slices, pickled ginger, and sushi rice; Warm Brie with Macadamia Nut Crust – Triple cream brie, balsamic reduction, house bread, apple slices, and honey drizzle; and Blue Cheese & Bacon Chips with chipotle ranch dressing and tomatoes. All three of these things are appetizers, I’ll remind you, but we weren’t prepared for the huge portions – hooray!

We really didn’t wait very long for our food, which was awesome because we were starving. The food arrived and completely covered our table. Seriously, we were reaching around candles and shifting things on a per-bite basis. It was much more food than I expected it to be.


The Teriyaki Tenderloin was really awesome. In fact, it was my favorite of the three dishes. The meat was really tender (and aside one piece of gristly meat discovered by D.Rough, unfortunately) and flavorful. It was served with these little toothpick things poked into each piece of meat and then there was a pile of sushi rice in the middle with pickled garlic on top of that. The whole thing was great.

The macadamia nut crusted brie was fantastic as well. Very soft and spreadable on the bread that came with the meal. Very creamy cheese and the crust on the outside added a great flavor to it all. And the balsamic reduction and honey drizzle combo was stellar. Well played, Kincaid’s. I loved this thing. Very simple, but filling.


The blue cheese and bacon chips were more like circle-cut fried potatoes than potato chips. They were pretty thoroughly covered with the blue cheese and bacon (actually could have had a little more bacon in my opinion, but I’m kind of a freak about bacon, if you didn’t know). The chips weren’t overly crispy, but were firm and not floppy. I would say just about perfect, especially for the toppings that were on them. The chipotle ranch was decent (I’m not a ranch guy), but the blue cheese crumbles were fantastic.

Even though I had a favorite, I don’t want anyone to think I wouldn’t order any one of these items again. They were really great. I wish I liked seafood, since a lot more of the appetizers involved seafood. So if that’s your thing, go check out Kincaid’s for late night happy hour.

When the bill arrived, D.Rough quizzed me on what I thought we’d be paying. I guessed almost double since we had three appetizers and drinks. It was under $25 for the whole meal. That’s super good, especially considering the amount and quality of food we ate. I know we’ll be back here for late night happy hour again. We do have a couple of other places to try in the meantime, but this might be a good fall back place to head to.

Top 5 things about Kincaid’s
1. Teriyaki Tenderloin
2. Warm Brie with Macadamia Nut Crust
3. Pomegranate Margarita
4. Blue Cheese and Bacon Chips
5. Amazingly affordable and delicious all around!

Bottom 5 things
1. I’m missing out on a lot of awesome seafood appetizers here – my own fault, I know…
2. Limited drinks with happy hour pricing
3. Either the table was too small or the food was too big – I vote for too small of table!
4. Maybe a little bit more bacon would have been nice
5. One tiny gristly piece of Teriyaki Tenderloin

http://www.kincaids.com